Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Zhang Xuetao, head of the Real Estate Market Supervision Department at China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said at a State Council Information Office briefing that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period the ministry will push coordinated linkage of four factors — people, housing, land and money — so that housing is determined by population, land by housing, and capital by housing, promoting rational allocation of resources.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will push forward three foundational systems for real estate, all project-based, said Zhang Xuetao, director of the ministry’s real estate market supervision department, at a State Council Information Office briefing. For development, the focus is on fully implementing the project-company system to settle who is the independent implementing entity of a project: one project corresponds to one company, which exercises independent legal-person rights, and headquarters are strictly barred from illegally siphoning project-company funds.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said completed-home sales are the general trend, aiming to eliminate delivery risk by letting buyers see the finished property before paying. New projects will prioritize completed-home sales with coordinated land, financial and tax support policies, while pre-sale projects will face tightened escrow oversight. National Bureau of Statistics data show completed-home sales area has kept positive growth, rising as a share of new-home sales.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will intensify its crackdown on irregularities in construction bidding and on overdue payments owed to contractors, Vice Minister and ministry spokesperson Chen Shaowang said at a State Council Information Office briefing. He said the ministry will deepen reform of the construction industry, strengthen quality and safety oversight and regulate the construction market order.

TREE NEWS update: China’s railway booking platform 12306 responded after travelers reported higher high-speed rail fares ahead of the National Day holiday, with tickets for the first day of the holiday period going on sale on September 16. One user’s screenshot showed the Chongqing North to Nanjing South D988 train priced from 446 yuan on September 25 but from 520 yuan on September 30. Another user said the Guangzhou to Chaoshan G6592 fare rose from 279 yuan normally to 298 yuan for Mid-Autumn Festival and 302 yuan for National Day.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said it will raise housing quality standards across 14 areas, part of a push to build “good houses” that are safe, comfortable, green and smart. Announced at a State Council Information Office briefing on the 15th Five-Year Plan, the plan covers standards, design, materials, construction and maintenance across the full life cycle. Officials said standards the public considers good are good standards.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will pursue five goals during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Vice Minister and ministry spokesperson Chen Shaowang said at a State Council Information Office briefing. The goals cover progress in building modern people’s cities, higher living standards, upgrading of the construction industry, greater global influence in the habitat field, and a stronger foundation for high-quality development.

TREE NEWS update: South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said multiple countries are deploying military assets near the Strait of Hormuz, but South Korea will not send troops into the conflict. He said Seoul may take minimal action to protect South Korea’s economic interests and the safety of its citizens, and is assessing whether to increase its participation beyond the current level.

TREE NEWS update: China’s housing ministry said the country’s real estate sector has entered a stock, or existing-housing, era, with urban-rural construction, housing and real estate, and construction all at a critical stage of transformation. Vice Minister and ministry spokesperson Chen Shaowang described the shift at a State Council Information Office briefing as “two turns, two transformations and three-ization transformation.”

TREE NEWS reports: The Hang Seng Tech Index extended its intraday advance to 1% on the day. The move marks a widening of the index’s gains during the session. No further details were disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank of Japan is widely expected to raise its policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.25%, the highest level since 1995. Markets will watch whether the two board members appointed by Sanae Takaichi, Toichiro Asada and Ayano Sato, dissent, and how Governor Kazuo Ueda signals the pace of further hikes and the terminal rate. Ueda’s comments on the yen and on energy costs driven by the Iran war, strong AI demand and import-cost inflation are also in focus.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Development and Reform Commission, National Energy Administration and National Mine Safety Administration jointly issued a notice to accelerate stable coal output and supply. Coal-producing regions and companies are told to resume and ramp up production, speed up acceptance of trial-run mines, and lift output steadily, while also honoring mid-to-long-term thermal coal contracts and using imports as a supplement. Authorities will release coal capacity reserves when appropriate.

TREE NEWS reports: The CSI Convertible Bond Index opened up 0.36% on Thursday. Jingce Convertible Bond 2 led gainers with a 3.71% rise, followed by Dinglong Convertible Bond at 3.66%, Huafeng Convertible Bond at 2.64%, Shenglan Convertible Bond 02 at 2.58% and Lianrui Convertible Bond at 2.40%. Wujin Convertible Bond and Shuangjian Convertible Bond were the biggest decliners, each falling 0.19%.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s treasury bond futures opened mixed on the session, with the 30-year main contract up 0.05% and the 10-year main contract flat at 0.00%. The 5-year main contract held unchanged from the previous day, while the 2-year main contract also showed 0.00%.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s A-share benchmarks opened higher on the session, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.42% at 3891.96 and the Shenzhen Component up 1.15% at 13563.74. The ChiNext Index rose 1.61% to 3351.56, the CSI 300 gained 0.72% to 4492.32, and the STAR 50 climbed 1.76% to 1634.63. The CSI 500 opened 0.99% higher at 7731.07 and the CSI 1000 added 0.96% to 7621.24.

TREE NEWS reports: The offshore yuan rose to 6.6967 per US dollar, its strongest intraday level since July 2022. The move extends the Chinese currency’s appreciation in offshore trading, where it trades more freely than the onshore rate.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China conducted 463.3 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repurchase operations on the open market, with the rate held at 1.40%, unchanged from the previous operation. The central bank also ran 100 billion yuan of 14-day reverse repos. A total of 604 billion yuan of reverse repos matured today, resulting in a net liquidity withdrawal.

TREE NEWS reports: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index opened 0.49% higher at 24,723.85 on Thursday, with the Hang Seng Tech Index up 0.41%. Among individual names, MNIMAX rose nearly 4%, Zhipu gained 3.6% and Hua Hong Semiconductor advanced 2.8%.

TREE NEWS reports: The People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s central parity rate against the dollar at 6.7521, 59 pips stronger than the previous fix of 6.7580 and the strongest level since February 3, 2023. The previous official closing price was 6.7085, with the overnight session last quoted at 6.7060.

TREE NEWS update: Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser said the central bank’s board is fully committed to achieving its inflation target. The statement reaffirms the RBA’s existing policy stance on price stability. No further details were provided.